Neeraj Rohmetra
JAMMU, Aug 20: The State is reeling under the shortage of elite Indian Administrative Service (IAS) with nearly one-third of the post of sanctioned cadre strength lying vacant for the past some time and this is taking toll on the working of several administrative Departments.
Besides, Jammu and Kashmir Government unlike their counterparts in the rest of the country has chosen not to approach the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension for increase in strength of J&K cadre IAS officer.
According to the statistics available with Ministry of personnel, “even as sanctioned strength of IAS officers for J&K is 137, about 46 post are lying vacant in the State.”
Documents in possession of EXCELSIOR indicated that out of the 137 sanctioned posts, 75 are direct recruitment posts while as 62 are promotion posts. However, actually only 91 posts are presently being occupied by IAS incumbents, which include 60 direct recruitment posts and 30 are promotion posts.
Several other States in the country are also facing similar situation. Uttar Pradesh, which has 216 vacancies heads the list in the country and it is followed by Madhya Pradesh, where 118 post are lying vacant. Among other States are Bihar (128), Rajasthan cadre (100), Andhra Pradesh (92), Karnataka (80), Odisha (78), Manipur-Tripura (70), Tamil Nadu (69), Punjab (60), Kerala (56), Maharashtra (55), Chattisgarh (54) and Gujarat (52).
However several of these States have written to the Centre for increasing the quota for IAS officers in view of their increased administrative, social and other obligations towards the people. “These proposals were being considered as per the provisions of the Rule 4(2) of the IAS (Cadre) Rules, 1954, which mandates the Union Government to re-examine the strength and composition of IAS cadres in consultation with the State Government at the interval of every five years”, official sources said.
As far as IAS officials of Jammu and Kashmir State cadre are concerned, the last cadre review was carried out in the year 2009 wherein the cadre strength was increased from 112 to 137″, sources added.
Thereafter, the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions which deals with the subject hasn’t received any request from the State Government, said Navneet Misra, Under Secretary with the Ministry based in North Block. “Ever since 2009 no such proposal has been received from J&K”, he added.
Further, several senior IAS officials of State have preferred to go on deputation to different Central Government Departments for several years.
Among senior officials, who are presently on deputation to various departments included Parvez Dewan (Secretary, Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs), Anil Goswami (Secretary, Department of Social Justice and Empowerment), Pankaj Jain (Special Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Project Implementation), Dr. Arun Kumar (Senior Advisor – Policy ASSOCHAM, New Delhi), Mrs Sonali Kumar (Principal Secretary, Coordination, R.C Office, New Delhi), P G Dhar Chakraborty (Advisor, Inter-State Council, MHA, New Delhi), Ashok Kumar Angurana (Additional Secretary, Ministry of Panchayati Raj), Khurshid Ahmed Ganai (Joint Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting) and Pramod Kumar Jain (Joint Secretary, Ministry of Culture).
Other officials on deputation included Rakesh Kumar Gupta (Additional Secretary in the Union Public Service Commission), Lokesh Dutt Jha (Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs), Pradip Kumar Tripathi (Advisor and Joint Secretary, National Institute of Disaster Management), Sundeep Kumar Nayak (Joint Secretary, Ministry of Women & Child Development), Arun Kumar Mehta (Chief Vigilance Officer, Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Ltd.), Raj Kumar Goyal (Principal Resident Commisioner, New Delhi), Ashok Kumar Parmar (Director, Department of Health and Family Welfare), Dheeraj Gupta (Director in the PMO), Rohit Kansal (Private Secretary to Minister for New and Renewable Source of Energy), Shailendra Kumar (Deputy Secretary in the Department of Agriculture & Cooperation), Hirdesh Kumar (Inter-cadre transfer to U.P) and Mandeep Kaur (Additional Private Secretary with Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare).
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